Sunday, November 21, 2010

How to fix Pavilion DV8t wireless button and volume slider issues

As an owner of a HP Pavilion DV8 laptop, I have generally been very pleased with the product. After a few months, however, I began experiencing a strange issue: the capacitive buttons for the wireless internet and the bass/treble slider would occasionally actuate themselves, cutting off internet access and sending the volume into a hissy-fit. This seemed to happen most frequently when moving the laptop, leading me to believe it was a hardware issue.

After extensive troubleshooting, google searching, and HP support chats, there didn't seem to be any improvement, and the issue still seemed to be hardware based. Just before resigning myself to sending the machine to HP for repair, I found a suggestion buried in a large thread on a message board, which I decided to try out. After a couple of days, I'm happy to report that it's working beautifully!

As it turns out, theres a wire under the keyboard that needs to be in contact with the ground plate, and by default is not actually fastened to it in any way, but depends on pressure from the components above. If the laptop is shifted in such a way that the wire loses contact with that plate for a moment, the problem triggers. Poor design? Yes. The good news is that it's easily fixed! Here's how:

Firstly, follow the instructions in this document to remove the keyboard. At that point you should be looking at something like this:

The red box indicates the wire mentioned above. A better view is here:

All that is needed is to secure the foil above to the plate just below it. I used masking tape, and everything seems to be working perfectly.

A word of warning though: when removing the speaker plate, do not try to pry the silver side plates of the machine away to facilitate the process, as the clasps that hold it in place are very delicate. I have a broken piece of plastic bouncing off of my cooling fan now and then, and its a bit disconcerting. Worth it though, for a working touch panel.

Good luck on your efforts, and comment below if you find this helpful :-)

10/17/2013 - I can't believe I happened upon this blog.....I've been suffering with this problem for the past couple years and have hesitated taking it in for a fix because of the $$$. Will try this immediately! Thanks, AboutToBeHappyAgainInMyrtleBeach.

I guess it worked for my HP DV8 Pav 1290 ee (July 2016). Things were very unpredictable. Bass turning on and WiFi turning on & off by itself, felt like virus affecting my laptop!!It was a loose wire as you have mentioned. Used couple of masking tape layers to paste it to the bottom.Thanks a lot.

I tried this and my dv8t-1000 is still having problems. I'm wondering if it's actually a software issue in my case, because I've never had problems with the bass/treble/volume controls. and even the wireless seems to crap out in software slightly before the button on the keyboard goes from blue to orange. quite frustrating to say the least! but thank you for your instructions nonetheless -- I'm glad you mentioned the silver side panels, because I definitely would have tried to pry them if you hadn't said not to :)

Thank you very much. Fixed my HP DV8T. No more loss of connectivity. I tried various methods to correct my problem of losing my internet. Nothing worked.....till now. Your fix of the problem was exactly what was wrong with my laptop. Thanks,Bob T.

I had this problem till I took my laptop on a trip. Must have repositioned the wire to make contact, for now at least. When It re-occurs as it most surely will I will know how to fix. Thanks for the good instruction - pics and all.Cheers

finally some pictures and a link to the proper keyboard removal proceedure! My wifes Dv8t has been having this issue since it was 3 months old, lately it occured so often the computer was innoperable. I too found mention of the fix deep in a thread on some HP forum. I then began to search for pictures and the keyboard removal manual. SWEET! I am an engineer so I had a good idea from descriptions on how to fix this, but with your pictures and link I now have her laptop fixed in under 20 minutes and once again I am the hero prince charming!!

THANK YOU!

People sharing information is FAR MORE POWERFUL then the standard power down and reboot Devry educated over seas phone pool tech support BS we would otherwise be left with

Followed the instructions to a "T" and I am still having the same problems... I used electrical tape to tape down the foil to the ground plate. I uninstalled HPToneControl which has helped, but I was trying to regain that functionality.... Also WiFi is still on the fritz on and off.

My next thought would be to put a small piece of foam or maybe cardboard folded over a couple of times to act as a spring forcing the foil into the plate. I'd also make sure that both surfaces are very clean. If that doesnt help, then you most likely have a bad connection someplace else in the system.

dave: how good I found the thread of the problem, it makes a lot of searching and nothing came not find solution. I import a dv8t hp to Argentina because I liked the product, but after a while started with this problem.Now I find the solution, soon makes disarmament.

So yeah I think dave is right about where the problem is. I also went the extra step as he suggested, and put a little piece of cardboard in that spot. I first taped down the spot with regular blue masking tape. Then I took a piece of regular 1/8 corrugated and compressed it down to about 1/16 and put it over the spot and taped that down as well. Even though the cardboard was only 1/16th of an inch, it seemed to push the keyboard up a little in that spot, but not too badly.

You can also probably test if this solution will work for you WITHOUT taking the computer apart, by pressing down firmly on the keyboard in the space between the f8 and f9 key while it is acting up.

Hea guys, I tried this and I also used foil tape to cover the route of the Wlan antenna's as well as grounding them to the same foil used to cover the cables in the description. I really think this works. I was concerned about the Wlan radio energy having an effect on treble and Wlan switch as these are detecting capacitive reactance changes when you touch the Volume, Treble, Etc. areas. Seems so be working for me. My notebook worked fine for about 6 months, and then I started to have problems. Just got worse with time. The interesting thing is, it only affected the treble/base and Wlan. Both of those are right under the Wlan module Antennas. Non of the other functions were affected. Good luck with yours.

I'm a mechanic by trade. Fix stuff all the time, but I have never done something like this before. After having my dv8t 1200 sent in and repaired about six months ago for the treble/bass button and wifi button popping on and off to the point of no return, I ended back up on the phone and chat again with hp support and it's going to ba back in the shop. Who knows for how long this time. Anyway I decided to do some reseach on the fix it myself solution. I found in the past that it had been a problem with others but I had warranty left and in fact due to I have never worked on one of these before I decided to go ahead and purchase 3 more years of warranty hoping by then the bugs would be worked out and all this would be behind me. Anyway here I am again with them telling me to send it in and it's probably the mother-board blah, blah, blah what I said didn't sink in and what they said I wouldn't totally except. So. back to my reseach I came across this place. Unbelievable!! Were they that stupid at hp. I did just exactly what was told to do on here with the exception of using a smear of electrical grease on the contact points of the ground and put three or four small strips of black electrical tape to build that area up some so the cover would sure hold it down and as soon as put it back together it has never been shut off and not one problem yet. I know it hasn't been long but it's been running non stop and moved around and shook around on purpose and even banged on some and it hasn't failed yet. So with all sincerity thanks a lot and I hope you get rewarded for your geniousness.

Many, many thanks like MBWheeler I have been putting up with this issue for a very long time, and it is beautiful to see my machine functioning as it should be!! Your instructions were clear and easy to follow.. Wonderful!

Just did the mod. A bit trickier than expected although I did get my dv8t-1000 back together and functioning. There were two more screws needed to remove the speaker plate on my model which were not listed in the pdf instructions. I managed with some nervousness as this was my first laptop over haul. If this works, it's a real deterant to purchasing HP in the future. What a poor design.I'll keep you posted regarding my results.Thank you!

Two days and counting without a hitch/glitch for my wifi. Amazing! This needs to be well publicized. Thank you so much for posting this fix. I have been pulling my hair out for months trying to find a solution that actually worked. This is the real deal. Thank you again!

This is good information to be sure however the DV8t has a software issue as well. I am learning that it may be a driver conflict that causes the buttons to indicate a false representation i.e. speaker control indicating mute even when windows and speakers are functioning or wireless light to show disconnected. I use a backup of my operating system which does not have any issues with the control buttons and where everything functions correctly. However when I install the latest version of Flash player for example my buttons start acting up. When I reformat my computer with the back-up the problems disappear again. Flash seems to be the only variable at this point.

Just dropping a note to Thank you for posting this. The absolute frustration of trying to surf the web and find a solution for the wireless on/off issue was terrible. After I staggered across your page here and actually Saw the wire that is causing the problem, it was a very simple fix.

I went with the route of creating a spring of sorts out of a piece of folded construction paper and taping it to the top of the ribbon cable. So far all is well with the wireless connection. As for the volume/tone control thing, HP released a patch for it that Seems to be working (but it did nothing for the wireless issue). Now if you can tell me how to revive my DVD/Blueray player/burner, I'd be forever grateful.

I have found a fix but it requires you to unplug the ribbon from the touch bar above the keyboard - you will lose all the "pretty" lights from the top but to be honest I ever only used the volume button.

I didn't try this yet.However I struggled with this problem ever since I bought it.

Few days ago, my secondary hard disk died and I bought a new one.As soon as I installed it into my dv8, wireless problem stopped.It looks wird but it is working now.Perhaps it was a power consuming problem?!

I have been putting up with this problem for 3 LONG Years. I chased blogs for a while, learning that I could at least kill the HPToneCtl process to rid the annoying tone control interrupt, but while typing this blog - this is the longest I have ever been able to stay connected to the wireless. This solution was dead on. Unimpressed with HP's ability to own up to the quality issue, our last 2 laptops WERE NOT HP. I'm glad I don't have to curse them everytime I get online anymore. Thanks for sharing your wisdom - which obviously exceeded any support tech at HP. One simple supggestion to others - be gentle pulling speaker cover off - it's easy to break the tabs.Although I'd take broken tabs any day over the stupid problem. Hey girls - you can fix this yourself! I Did!

Thank-you so much. I can not believe I waited this long to fix. It is like having a new machine. Can not believe the design flaw. Taped down and built up a little to add some pressure in case the tape comes loose. Thanks again.

"Sending your laptop in, downloading drivers, updating the BIOS ect will not fix the issue. I had the same issue a couple years ago. I sat for hours on the phone with tech support, waited over a week to have the laptop repaired and sent back only to have the issue come back (bass/treble and wifi having a mind of its own). I just lived with it on a wired connection. While browsing to see if this has been resolved I came across the driver and BIOS updates.... ha... didn't work. Kept looking around.. found a .pdf for disassembly instructions.I took out a total of 6 screws, removed the plate that goes around the Keyboard. (This plate contains the touch controls) I took some electrical tape and spread it down the length of the underside where the touch controls are on the plate. I took additional strips of electrical tape and covered all metal surfaces under the plate. I addition I put a small piece over the zip connector.Issue solved with full functionality of my touch controls. "

I have tried various approaches, they seem to work and then the problem comes back. Only permanent solution is to disconnect the connection to the button panel. i cannot use the bass treble panel, but no more internet dropping issue. finally getting some sleep.

MY DV8 IS DRIVING ME NUTS, JUST GOT OFF PHONE WITH HP BUT THEY HAVE WASHED THEIR HANDS OF ME BECAUSE I'M OUT OF WARRANTY. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER BUYING HP PRODUCTS AGAIN AND I SUGGEST NO BODY DOES COS THEY ARE RUBBISH. GOING TO TRY THE REPAIR ABOVE AND I HOPE IT WORKS OR THIS THING IS GETTING SMASHED. I CAN'T BELIEVE HP ARE GETTING AWAY WITH IT, THEY ARE SCUM.

So I disconnected the button panel and everything was fine... till I tried to use the system without a power cord. Seems this is all somehow tied to the battery?! If true, it's an extremely poor design. But, I can make the system stop recognizing batteries by unplugging the ribbon cable and make it start by plugging it back in. Is anyone else seeing this problem? I will never buy HP again - this laptop is a POS because of this seemingly incurable problem (I've tried every method, including the one on this post) and I have a newer HP Deskjet that is also wireless but NEEDS PHYSICALLY TOUCHED every time I need to print something. Useless.

AnonymousJuly 3, 2011 7:59 PMI'm a mechanic by trade. Fix stuff all the time, but I have never done something like this before. After having my dv8t 1200 sent in and repaired about six months ago for the treble/bass button and wifi button popping on and off to the point of no return, I ended back up on the phone and chat again with hp support and it's going to ba back in the shop. Who knows for how long this time. Anyway I decided to do some reseach on the fix it myself solution. I found in the past that it had been a problem with others but I had warranty left and in fact due to I have never worked on one of these before I decided to go ahead and purchase 3 more years of warranty hoping by then the bugs would be worked out and all this would be behind me. Anyway here I am again with them telling me to send it in and it's probably the mother-board blah, blah, blah what I said didn't sink in and what they said I wouldn't totally except. So. back to my reseach I came across this place. Unbelievable!! Were they that stupid at hp. I did just exactly what was told to do on here with the exception of using a smear of electrical grease on the contact points of the ground and put three or four small strips of black electrical tape to build that area up some so the cover would sure hold it down and as soon as put it back together it has never been shut off and not one problem yet. I know it hasn't been long but it's been running non stop and moved around and shook around on purpose and even banged on some and it hasn't failed yet. So with all sincerity thanks a lot and I hope you get rewarded for your geniousness.

It's now been over a year and the fix worked very well up until about two months ago. This time it's not as bad. In fact it now after it's on a while it will quit again. The problem stops. However after it's first turned on and for about 20 to 30 mins. of run time it stops malfuntioning. But when it does malfuntion it is exactly what it was doing before. No control over bas/treble slider and losing wireless. I'm still in warranty after purchasing the extended warranty. but I am reluctant in returning it to hp after I have done the repairs myself the first time. I'm afraid they will say it's my fault. I could go back and try to see if some tape has came loose and moved, but idon't know if should. I purchased the in home warranty plan but they say can't authorize this type of repair (Internal) at home.

So does anyone have another grand idea or suggestion. I sure would take it in appreciation. Thanks for your help everyone.

My first reaction would be the same as yours, the tape may be coming loose. I think at this point the manual repair (unfortunately) throws warranty options out the window either way. I would go ahead and open and up to take a look.

After years of just accepting a great laptop has a crappy problem, i found the time and your article and attempted the fix. It Worked perfectly and im using just your average sello-tape. No more moving my laptop as if I were a bomb difusal expert in order to keep the wireless on.

I own a web design company and have been dealing with this maddening issue for 4 years now since I first bought my HP DV8T. I have spent probably 15+ hours on the phone with different HP techs, I sent it in for repair twice, I tried the firmware update released in 06/2011 which helped slightly but only for a little while, and I have almost slammed my computer against the ground multiple times out of sheer when the treble/bass would steal the focus from my mouse while working every 2 seconds for hours/days on end.

Thank you SO very much for this post as the solution immediately worked for me Dave! You have no idea how appreciative I am. I actually saw this post a while back but was afraid to attempt it. Now that my warranty just ended I finally went for it. For anyone attempting it there are a few things I want to add in hopes that it helps someone.

I have an HP DV8T 1100CTO:

1) The keyboard cover on mine actually comes off opposite of how the PDF says. I had to lift up on the back edge near the function keys (NOT the front edge near the touchpad mouse).

2) The "LIF Connectors" stand for "low insertion force". I tried to pull one of them straight out and broke the left hinged side of it. After that I Googled it and found out that a little bar easily lifts up and then the bare ribbon simply falls out. If you are using any force you are doing it wrong. Here is a video on how to release them at http://goo.gl/yQXEW.

I still cannot BELIEVE that HP won't even acknowledge this is an issue with thousands of posts related to it. They HAVE to know but they play dumb I guess so they don't have to fix so many people's laptops. $2800 for a laptop and I had to duct tape it together. I will NEVER buy another one... ever. Thanks again for helping me (and so many others) to get this fixed once and for all.

Thanks for the post. This worked awesome and wasn't to bad to do. My laptop has had this problem since about 6 months after I owned it. I had tried all the goofy little trucks to try and get this to stop. I figured I was gonna buy a new laptop and not an HP. It took me about a half hour to do and I have never pulled a laptop apart before this. My suggestion is take your time if you need to do this and don't pull any of the cables off. You can lay the outer keyboard ring forward and flip the keyboard towards you. I used one piece of electrical tape about 2 inches long and then used 3 about a half inch long stacking those right over the pad. Went back together fine and works like a champ. That is a horrible design. I will have a hard time buying another HP laptop. Thanks again for this post. Saved me a bunch of money.

I still am amazed...I followed your procedure step by step, and voila! I am very disappointed in HP and the money I spent because they do not stand behind their product...Santa gave me this three years ago today and I have been living with the problem of the WLAN cutting on and off and the Bass/Treble control going haywire!!! Thanks to you and your knowledge, its better than new! MERRY CHRISTMAS O GREAT ONE!!!

I had the same problem. Opened up switch cover,key board cover and keyboard. Used air can on dust, it was built up pretty good in there. Put lap top back together and no issues so far. Before the wireless indicator was more like a blinker. We will see in a few days.

Here I found the most "profesional" solution, including 2 excellent videos (15 min each) explaining in detail how to carefully remove the keyboard and how to correctly isolate and ground the above mentioned cable.

Cool man, it really works !! Now all the fancy buttons are functioning as it should~It was an easy fix "once" I got to the grounding part, with which I taped a thin strip of neoprene to put some positive pressure on the contact, but taking off the various covers is a little tricky and I ended up breaking that delicately stuck tab anyway, haha~ No big deal since this works like a charm, thanks a lot !!

Thank you so much! My wife's DV8 was going crazy, we couldn't figure out what was going on. I looked around online to find and came across your page here. We removed the parts, used tape to put it down and now hopefully it won't go crazy again because she loves the DV8 despite the problem here. Thank you so much!

Right now I have an Acer Aspire One d250 and the wifi continually turns on and off by itself, very frequently when I'm typing. I've had this computer for nearly 6 years but this problem has just started about two week ago. Will this solution work for my computer as well?

I've own HP laptops for the past 10 years. Purchased the DV8 several years ago. Have experienced the exact same issues with the blinking wireless, bass/treble, volume, mute - it's been a nightmare to say the least. Spent countless hours with HP Support (WASTE OF FRICKING TIME - LET ME REPEAT.... #HP_SUPPORT_SUX)... I returned the item for repair under warranty twice - did not fix the problem. Bought and extended warranty to ensure my issue would be covered - WASTE OF MONEY as they did not want to fix it AND they had the nerve to tell me they never heard of my DV8 wireless connection problem (LIARS!!!)... They stole my money and refused to fix a faulty product. I will try this and see where it takes me. I'm with some of you on this post - I will not purchase an HP product again just out of principle considering how they treated me. I will use Social Media to share my story - maybe write a song and post on YouTube... Either way - #DONE with HP!

Still having Wi-Fi blink off(red/orange) & on (blue) issue after taking apart & taping the foil to the ground. Is it possible that I didn't do it right? After reading all the great comments - Any more ideas are welcomed!!!

Damn, this fix works good! Spilled coffee on my HP keyboard this morning and was looking online for some advice. I also had wifi / base /treble flickering on/off regularly. I had to smack the keyboard to reconnect the wifi. What a pain. taped down the ground strip and it now works properly. I figured it was a loose connection. But now my left mouse button does not work. Does anyone have tips on cleaning touchpad mouse buttons?Richard.

Originally came because I too had the same basic issue. Eventually I ended up needing to replace my whole keyboard (for a different child-spilling issue.) Replaced it successfully however currently it still won't fully work. Is it worth replacing the keyboard one last time or do you think I have another issue all together?

Hiya and thanks a crapload!!!! Wow,,,I've been "ignoring the slider vols and tones, and recently hasn't done that. Been a while. But next time it comes up and think about throwing it out the window...I'll follow your instructions!

I've always thought it something as simple as this, but just ignored it because of...well...1st...we have tooooo many computer and laptops...and 2nd...being the tech of the "FAMILIES"...I've thrown stuff out and told them..."did you backup everything?" (said that a million times).

Too BAD...don't call me when your STUPIDITY made the dang thing break and I fixed it zillion times and your kid pulls off the keys....????

no man...yo helped me out a lot on this and bows to the website, as well as you to post and fortunately I've stumbled upon green pastures!!!

I'll add my thanks to Dave for sharing this solution. You have made a boatload of friends. I really like my dv8t except... but was ready to trash it. Problem was, the best looking replacement was another HP, and after all the BS, I really didn't want to buy another of their products. Did the fix a few months ago, and have been happy since. You saved me some mental anguish.

put this off for a long time as the problem would come and go, sometimes it was OK for extended periods, all in all it was a very easy fix, now to see if it is permanent... thanks for all your efforts, I believe it has helped many users

This fix worked well. However, when I opened up the laptop, I found that HP had already taped the referenced cable to the grounding patch. I assume HP did this a few years ago when I sent the laptop in for a warranty repair (HP replaced the touchpad, keyboard and monitor!).

I took off the tape, used some fine sandpaper to remove any oxidation from the cable and grounding patch and then taped it back down. I then taped a small "pad" of masking tape on top of the cable over the grounding patch. I was hoping that this would apply extra force to the cable / grounding patch connection.

dv8-1110ea here, same problem. I used paper tape that I've used in the past in various places in laptops, it tends to stay in place even in higher temperatures, I believe it will hold up nicely. Thank you so much for this nifty trick, I was considering removing the connection alltogether before. Kudos and greetings from Greece